Live Oak Annex News and Articles

Fast on the heels of the deceptive use of Measure S funds to move the downtown library into a parking garage comes another project playing fast and loose with taxpayer bond money. Measure S funds, intended to “improve and upgrade” the existing 10 branches in the county’s library system, will be spent on the Live Oak Annex, actually a remodel of the County Parks Department Simpkins Swim Center building. It essentially creates an eleventh branch, about a mile away from the existing Live Oak branch but with barely any books and staffed by County Parks personnel. Library staff will be present during planned library programs. This was presented at the Oct. 22 public meeting (attended by only 13 residents). How is this project justified as an acceptable use of Measure S funds intended for libraries, especially when the proposal includes non-library uses like cooking classes, yoga classes, and child care? — Judi Grunstra, Santa Cruz

Plans are coalescing to renovate and expand the Simpkins Family Swim Center to include a new “annex” featuring library programming and services.

Monday night, project architect firm Noll & Tam unveiled three rough design sketches of the project, which would be funded primarily by the June 2016 voter-approved Measure S library bond measure. Some $6.25 million has been set aside for Live Oak-area library efforts, to be divided between the existing Live Oak Branch library and the proposed new annex.

Library Director Susan Nemitz said the project goal is to create a centrally located site catering to all ages with community gathering spaces and free programming. She said the library also hopes to partner with Santa Cruz County Parks and Recreation, so that users can’t recognize where the library ends and parks and recreation facilities begin. The swim center, at 979 17th Ave., is next door to the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Cruz County and next door to Shoreline Middle School. The swim center itself is expected to remain much the same as it is now, while the rest of the building and outdoor areas could be transformed and expanded to varying degrees.“I think traditionally, parks have done the physical well-being and libraries the intellectual well-being. But, where those two things happen often crosses,” Nemitz said. “We feel like there’s this huge opportunity for us to work together and serve this community.”More than a dozen people turned out for the second of three public meetings planned at the swim center’s community room, with their input combined with results of an online community survey related to priority library services and programs. Afterward, attendees were invited to pick from each project design their favorite features and give additional feedback.

It is unclear how much of the $6.25 million set aside for Live Oak library facilities would go to the annex proposal, off 17th Avenue, rather than the existing 12-year-old library branch on Portola Drive. However, a cost estimate will be offered at the next annex community meeting, scheduled for Dec. 4, officials said.Amenities envisioned for the library annex include such additions as book lockers where patrons can pick up reserved books, a teaching kitchen, program space, computer stations, a cafe, outdoor park and play space, drop-in child care, community classrooms and private study spaces, among other ideas. Library staff would be on site for specific events, rather than continuously, Nemitz said. Library and Parks and Recreation officials expect to coordinate their offerings so as not to exacerbate traffic congestion and parking shortages, officials said.Community members asked presenters how they intended to enforce rules, keep visitors safe and minimize the impact of visitors with behavioral problems. Many of the audience’s voiced concerns were focused on visitors who were homeless and using the space as a de facto day center. County Parks Director Jeff Gaffney said his staff already have procedures in place for such issues and would expand their oversight to the library annex area.“As a public entity, the public has the right to be here,” Nemtiz said in response to questions.

Proposed Live Oak library annex project a central community space

By Jessica A. YorkSanta Cruz SentinelOnline Edition 10/27/17

The blurry outline of a proposed new Live Oak library annex, serving first and foremost as a community gathering space, is beginning to take shape.

After voters approved a $67 million bond for facilities work throughout the Santa Cruz Public Libraries’ 10-branch system, via Measure S in June 2016, some $5 million of the proceeds were set aside for a combined project: work to update the Live Oak branch facilities and to create a new Live Oak annex. A working group comprised of library, county, school district and Boys and Girls Club representatives have since worked out a wishlist for the annex space, which would expand library services beyond the existing facility with room for community programing and particularly catering to area youth. The project’s latest iteration, still in draft stage, calls for construction of an addition to the Simpkins Swim Center that would house small classrooms and study rooms, high-speed internet access, a small collection of books, easy access to mobile book equipment and “flexible outdoor space” for gatherings and more, according to a Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors agenda report at its Oct. 24 meeting.

The annex, open to the general public, could fill an empty niche in the Live Oak area in a location more central to the community, said Jason Hoppin, spokesman for the Santa Cruz County. The proposed site is adjacent to Shoreline Middle School and the Boys and Girls Club on Seventh Avenue.

“It’s a little premature to say exactly what it’s going to look like, because that work hasn’t been done,” Supervisor Board Chairman John Leopold said Monday.

This week, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is set to approve the hiring of an architect to design library renovations for the Live Oak, La Selva Beach and Boulder Creek branch renovations. Once costs for the Live Oak branch work are penciled out, the board will know how much is left for a library annex facility, Leopold said. The county also has issued a request for architect proposals on the library annex site, said Library Director Susan Nemitz.

“Really, this is in response to the idea, could you put a program room at Live Oak. We never could. We’ve gone back and asked,” Nemitz said in a facilities project update to the Library Advisory Commission on Monday night.

“If you look at our future, it’s around education programming, so that facility’s at a huge disadvantage by not being able to have that kind of space. So, we’ll spend a little bit of money in Live Oak. But we’re looking at a place in the Live Oak community where we can put more of those programming spaces.”

The Live Oak library branch, the second newest branch at 11 years old, is limited in its expansion options due to sharing borders with East Cliff Drive and a protected marsh.

The Measure S campaign website, Our Libraries Our Future, describes the Live Oak branch needs as being determined by the “Santa Cruz Public Libraries Facilities Master Plan 2014-2023,” without reference or details for an annex proposal. The four-year-old facilities plan calls for some $1.1 million in maintenance work and between $325,000 and $575,000 in upgrades for the Live Oak branch.

If the library annex moves forward along lines described in October to the county, the Simpkins center might also see related overall upgrades, for which separate funding would need to be sought. The county will investigate cots to expand the site’s existing kitchen, create a related cafe space, cover the warm-water pool and Boys and Girls Club basketball court and develop room for child care and exercise.